Firestick not connecting to server

[HarryTheLarry 1]

My firestick wont reliably connect to my Emby server, iv had it connect in the past but am unable to find what's causing it to rarely connect. Could anyone offer me some advice?

Just so you are aware of my setup. I have a Emby server running on a Debian machine locally. I remote into the machine to manage it and can access the server with browser and my mobile app just fine. I have external connection disabled with my local network specified using a network mask and have allocated a fixed IP to the server which iv entered into the network tab. I have purchased premiere and entered the key.

When I launch the app on my firestick it recognises the server but selecting the server will result in a failed connection, manually entering the address also comes up with the same issue. To test the connection I tried to connect via the browser within the firestick but due to it being a bad browser it wasn't letting me specify the port but the browser built into my tv does work as well as 2 other devices and my mobile app. This leads me to assume its related to the app itself but I thought id ask for advice here.

I found that sometimes if I restart the whole server machine not just the Emby server itself, I can select the server as soon as its available and it will give me the option to select my user, by the time I enter the password however it will tell me "invalid user id or password" if I restart the app then I am back to the start unable to connect to the server. I have a side thought that something else on the machine that starts up after the Emby server is causing the connection to be lost but I cant find anything that should be effecting it, especially that I can use browser just fine all throughout.

Worst case I can do a fresh install of Debian or maybe something simpler to see if that fixes my issue but I want that to be my final attempt.

I hope I have provided enough information for everyone to understand my situation but please feel free to ask questions

[Luke 42077]

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

[HarryTheLarry 1]

33 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

Hi, thanks for the quick reply

I have sideloaded the app and it seems to work fine so far. I will let you know if that changes. 
Would using the mobile app effect my quality at all? such as my 4k tv being limited to a lower res or even the amount of audio channels?

Thanks

[HarryTheLarry 1]

Last night it worked fine but I woke up this morning to a error message saying "no content found" I restarted the app and now it won't even connect again. I tried reinstalling both the app from the fire TV store and sideloading the mobile app both refuse to connect even with full server restarts.

I have confirmed the server seems to still work with browser and my mobile connecting perfectly 

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  Something has got to be going on with your network and this device.  Have you installed or enabled any type of watchdog or security features in software or on your router, etc?

[HarryTheLarry 1]

12 minutes ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Something has got to be going on with your network and this device.  Have you installed or enabled any type of watchdog or security features in software or on your router, etc?

Hello

I haven't installed any but I will have a look to see if anything is defaulted when I get home, never thought to give it a look before. 

Thanks 

[Luke 42077]

Let us know how you get on. Thanks.

[HarryTheLarry 1]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Let us know how you get on. Thanks.

 

4 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Something has got to be going on with your network and this device.  Have you installed or enabled any type of watchdog or security features in software or on your router, etc?

I don't see anything that should be restricting my connection, just to make sure iv fully disabled my firewall and still nothing. One thing i have found is that if I fully restart the machine and attempt to connect with the sideloaded app the first error I get is saying I need to update my emby server then all attempts after say that its unable to connect and I should ensure that the server is on. I'm not sure if it helps but its the only thing I can find that's consistent 

[Luke 42077]

22 hours ago, HarryTheLarry said:

Hi, thanks for the quick reply

I have sideloaded the app and it seems to work fine so far. I will let you know if that changes. 
Would using the mobile app effect my quality at all? such as my 4k tv being limited to a lower res or even the amount of audio channels?

Thanks

This app will work just fine and fully supports TV devices. Are you happy continuing to use that?

[HarryTheLarry 1]

1 minute ago, Luke said:

This app will work just fine and fully supports TV devices. Are you happy continuing to use that?

Yeah I'm happy to keep using it, it seems to work better than the firestick app anyway. I just wish I could figure out these connection issues, I'm going to try install the server to my main desktop and see if I can connect to it, if I can it would lead me to believe its related to my current setup 

 

[HarryTheLarry 1]

Update, I have tried installing a separate emby server on my desktop and the firestick had the exact same behaviour, "server needs update" on first attempt and then "unable to connect" on the rest. To triple check and make sure there isn't a router setting effecting it I factory reset it but same issues are occurring.

Please let me know if you guys would like any log files I'm happy to provide them in a private message.

[ebr 16169]

What version of the server are you running?

[HarryTheLarry 1]

I'm unable to check right now but it's the latest stable release. 

I believe my issue is now resolved though, it seems that resetting my router has fixed it, it just took some time to take effect. Havnt had the issue since I last posted so I'm guessing you were right with it being some sort of watchdog setting.

I will give it a few days before I mark it as solved as I want to make sure it's not just a fluke. Thank you for your help 

[Luke 42077]

Let us know how you get on. Thanks.

[AVSpro 1]

Hello team,

One year later and here I write, having the same issue. UPnP and Port Forwarding both done. I can connect just fine via Mobile Data (Not WiFI) from my mobile phone and from the FireTV stick I can only connect via LAN connection. When I start a hot spot on the same phone where I can connect directly, the app on the FireTV stick does not show the server. 

I attempted both connection types with IP address and Connect with the PIN. I want to mention that I checked and port is also open from the outside, so it can be accessed. 

Any ideas what I could do? Is there a way to connected with username and password like logging-in into my account?

Thank you

[Luke 42077]

16 hours ago, AVSpro said:

Hello team,

One year later and here I write, having the same issue. UPnP and Port Forwarding both done. I can connect just fine via Mobile Data (Not WiFI) from my mobile phone and from the FireTV stick I can only connect via LAN connection. When I start a hot spot on the same phone where I can connect directly, the app on the FireTV stick does not show the server. 

I attempted both connection types with IP address and Connect with the PIN. I want to mention that I checked and port is also open from the outside, so it can be accessed. 

Any ideas what I could do? Is there a way to connected with username and password like logging-in into my account?

Thank you

Hi there, what exactly happens when you try to connect?

[AVSpro 1]

Hello,

First I open the app and I get to the Manual or Connect screen and if I log in with connect on the PC the code is validated and nothing happens. If I manually input my external IP address the result is the same, nothing happens. 

Is there any way to see what happens in the background? Like a console output or something? Or should I just try to sideload the app?

Kind regards,

Andrei

[Neminem 1518]

Check you emby server logs, when you try.

To see if it receive the login request.

[Luke 42077]

24 minutes ago, AVSpro said:

Hello,

First I open the app and I get to the Manual or Connect screen and if I log in with connect on the PC the code is validated and nothing happens. If I manually input my external IP address the result is the same, nothing happens. 

Is there any way to see what happens in the background? Like a console output or something? Or should I just try to sideload the app?

Kind regards,

Andrei

It sounds like the app can’t reach your server. Is it your server, or someone else’s?

[MAR091645 0]

Having the same problem with my FireTV. Server is reachable from this remote location using other devices (Emby on Samsung S20).

[ebr 16169]

13 hours ago, MAR091645 said:

Having the same problem with my FireTV. Server is reachable from this remote location using other devices (Emby on Samsung S20).

 

15 hours ago, Luke said:

It sounds like the app can’t reach your server. Is it your server, or someone else’s?

 

[AVSpro 1]

Hi,

It is my server, I cannot see anything in the logs. I can access my server from outside via my phone emby app. Only FireTV one does not work.

BR

[AVSpro 1]

Hi,

It is my server, I cannot see anything in the logs from the FireTVStick app. I can access my server from outside via my phone emby app. Only FireTV one does not work.

BR

[ebr 16169]

1 hour ago, AVSpro said:

I cannot see anything in the logs from the FireTVStick app

That probably confirms it is unable to reach your server.  Check all security watchdog items on the network the Fire TV is on.  We've seen these specifically blocking Fire TV traffic before.

[Luke 42077]

9 hours ago, AVSpro said:

Hi,

It is my server, I cannot see anything in the logs from the FireTVStick app. I can access my server from outside via my phone emby app. Only FireTV one does not work.

BR

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.